Thank you, Madam Chair, for allowing me to make a few additional comments and ask a couple of questions. I, like Mr. Delorey, hate taxes as well. I believe most people do hate taxes. It's not a nice thing to have to do and I believe, Madam Chair, that it's the last thing a government should have to do is to go back to businesses and individuals and try to find money that in my estimation the last government misspent, and this government is misspending.
I go back to February 13th, Madam Chairperson, when we were talking about some specific revenue options that this government was proposing, and they talked about at that time to raise the corporate income tax rate by one percent, to 13 percent. I think what happened was the evolution of that, maybe they talked to some other Members and found out that there might be an inkling of an appetite for a two percent increase. The old saying holds true, Madam Chairperson, if you give them an inch they will take a mile. I believe that that is what happened here. We were talking about one percent, and now we are at two percent, Madam Chairperson.
The other problem that I had with this whole thing was that some presenters that were before the committee last week had less than 48 hours' notice or preparation time to come and give us a presentation on their input into the process. I don't know how a one-hour meeting in Yellowknife constitutes public consultation. To me it does not constitute public consultation. I think we have to pay some more attention to the folks that are out there, what type of impact these tax initiatives are going to have on the economy, on industry, and on individuals alike, Madam Chairperson. I don't think this government did the right thing, and I would have fully supported these tax initiatives going through the full 120 days, and run the gauntlet of public consultation that should have happened, and it didn't happen.
I have a question for the Minister, and that goes back to the presentation that he made to committee on the 13th of February when he talked about a one percent point increase in the corporate income tax rate would raise about $7 million. I am reading that right off of the information that was provided to us, and I think, Madam Chairperson, I heard the Minister talk about the fact that a two percent increase would raise $8 million. How is it that a one percent increase would raise $7 million, but a two percent increase would raise $8 million? Maybe I can have that explained to me. Thank you.